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SPEECH 



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SENATOR PHILANDER C. KNOX 



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PENNSYLVANIA 



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PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA 



OCTOBER 27th, 1906 




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SPEECH 



SENATOR PHILANDER C. KNOX 



O F 



PENNSYLVANIA 



PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA 



OCTOBER 27th, 1906 



. 1 Lit 
Author 
(Foreon) 

10 Mr'09 






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V 



My Fellow Townsmen and Friends: 

I am grateful for this reception and this oppor- 
tunity to talk to you to-night about the issues of 
this campaign and what seems to me to be the duty 
of Republicans in the existing political situation. 

I feel that if I can be of assistance in helping 
any one reach a decision as to his political duty I 
can best do so by the same processes of reasoning 
that have brought me to a firm conclusion as to 
my own duty ; that is, by looking the whole situation 
over, analyzing it and standing upon the conclusion 
to which the logic of the facts leads. This is the 
plan I will pursue, and I will first direct your atten- 
tion to the leading facts before making any deduc- 
tions. 

On June 6th, 1906, the Republican State Conven- 
tion met at Harrisburg, adopted a platform and 
nominated candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor, Auditor General and Secretary of Internal 
Affairs. 

The candidate for Governor is a gentleman of 
the highest character and of pure life, whose personal 
qualifications and good character, as well, indeed, as 



2 

that of his associates upon the ticket, are freely con- 
ceded by those opposed to his election. 

The platform of the party condemns corporate 
evasions of law, approves the legislation of the last 
session of Congress and the Legislature, calls for 
many reforms in State legislation, and "heartily 
and cordially endorses and commends the splendid 
administration of President Roosevelt." 

On May 31st, 1906, or one week prior to the 
Republican Convention, the Lincoln party held a 
convention, nominated candidates, and adopted 
a platform. The roll-call showed 278 delegates 
attended this convention, coming from 40 of the 67 
counties of the State. Of this number 158 delegates 
came from six counties, as follows: Philadelphia 82, 
Allegheny 35, Lancaster 11, Luzerne 10, Westmore- 
land 10, Schuylkill 10. 

No primaries were held anywhere in the State 
for the election of delegates, although the Lincoln 
party polled in 1905 sufficient votes to entitle it to 
nominate by certificate instead of petition. 

The platform of the Lincoln party, so far as it 
refers to matters of general interest, does not differ 
materially from that of the Republicans. As I 
understand, the purpose of this party was to antici- 
pate the regular Republican convention and to defeat 
the Republican ticket which it would nominate 



3 

because of the fact that it would be the regulai 
Republican ticket. 

Four weeks later, on June 27th, 1906, the Demo- 
cratic party met in convention, adopted its platform 
and nominated for Governor the nominee of the 
Lincoln party, and for the other places upon the 
ticket nominated straight-out Democrats. 

The Democratic platform contained nothing dis- 
tinctive except the following plank: 

"We congratulate the country upon the 
fact that the only prominence that the pres- 
ent Republican National Administration has 
attained has been attained by a feeble and 
pretended application of the principles enun- 
ciated by Honorable William Jennings Bryan, 
the great Democratic commoner, who is 
now regarded as the certain successor of 
Theodore Roosevelt to the Presidency." 

Subsequently the Lincoln party accepted the 
Democratic candidates for Lieutenant Governor, 
Auditor General and Secretary of Internal Affairs, 
and nominated candidates for Congress against 
the Republican candidates in the nth, 15th and 
17th Congressional Districts, and fused in the 8th, 
1 8th, 23d and 24th Congressional Districts with 
the Democrats in opposition to the Republican 
candidates. 



4 

The Lincoln party nominee has accepted the Dem- 
ocratic nomination, with all that such an act implies, 
and is now making a strenuous campaign for 
election. 

I have now stated to you the naked facts in 
the situation and their chronology. I have made 
no comment upon nor deductions from them, yet 
it is to these recited acts, and the motives by which 
they were inspired and the purposes entertained by 
those responsible for them, that we must look to 
ascertain the real issues in the campaign and to 
determine their merits. 

There are certain thoughts suggested by the 
order of time in which the important events of last 
Spring occurred. 

The Lincoln party's convention was on the 
31st of May. 

The Republican convention was one week later, 
namely, on the 6th of June. 

The Democratic convention met three weeks 
later, on the 27th of June. 

It is a legitimate inference, from the fact that 
the Lincoln party did not await the action of the 
Republican convention, that its leaders had decided to 
ignore the regular proceedings of the party, and to 
run their ticket without any reference to the regular 
nominations and without reference to the manner 



in which the nominations were brought about or 
the character of the nominees. This is a legitimate 
inference ; or else they meant, by nominating a 
ticket, to put themselves in a position to dictate to 
the Republican convention without participating 
in its proceedings. 

Another very natural deduction from the chro- 
nology of the situation is that the Democracy with 
their late convention occupied a position of great 
advantage which they made good use of in the 
fusion agreement, securing thereon all the candi- 
dates except for the Governorship. 

There are no differences between the three plat- 
forms as to reform measures. An honest reformer 
could stand upon the reform planks of either party. 
The Democratic platform expressly states "all im- 
portant reforms the Republican platform now advo- 
cates have been consistently declared for and 
supported by the Democracy of the State for many 
years." 

Making the same concession as to the fitness of 
Mr. Emery and his associates that they make in 
respect to Mr. Stuart and his co-candidates, it is obvi- 
ous that the issue is not the men. It is equally 
obvious that as between the Republican party and 
the Democratic party the issue is raised by the 
Republican plank endorsing President Roosevelt's 



6 

"splendid administration," and by the Democratic 
plank denouncing the President's administration as a 
"feeble and pretended" imitation of Bryan. That 
this is the issue as between the two great parties 
is too plain for further consideration. The purpose 
of the Democracy in injecting it into this campaign 
four weeks after the Lincoln convention and three 
weeks after the Republican convention is likewise 
plain, as I will later show. 

It is not so easy to state in so simple a form 
the exact issue between the Republican and Lin- 
coln parties, in view of the fusion between the 
Democrats, who insolently deride the President, and 
the Lincolnites, who commend him, but not in 
higher terms, I believe, than Mr. Bryan has at 
times himself employed. 

The determination and understanding of the 
issue with the fused party involves an appreciation 
of the difference between form and substance, 
between acts and declarations. 

Looking through the form and regarding the 
substance, weighing the act as against the decla- 
ration, I am irresistibly and regretfully led to the 
conclusion that our brethren of the Lincoln party, 
because of the fusion, have become, in effect, part- 
ners with the Democracy in the affront upon the 
President of the United States, which is so con- 
spicuous in the Democratic platform, 



I cannot see how it is possible, in the event of 
Republican defeat, that it would not be so claimed 
and understood ; and if it were so understood, the harm 
has been done to the extent of that under- 
standing. 

Can anyone doubt that this insult to President 
Roosevelt and exploitation of Mr. Bryan was delib- 
erately designed by the Democracy to have the 
very effect that I have stated ? Is it not clear that 
their strategic strength against our divided party 
suggested to the Democracy the thought of getting 
something out of the situation for future use? 
Otherwise, what is the relevancy of that extraordinary 
and mendacious declaration? If the Democracy 
were in good faith desiring to co-operate with the 
Lincoln Republicans to reform politics in Pennsyl- 
vania why should they, as a part of their programme, 
belittle our President and name his successor? Their 
convention was not dealing with a National ticket or 
National issues except as they went out of their way 
to do so. I do not accuse Lincoln Republicans, 
except so far as they are seeking to defeat Republican 
Congressmen, of desiring to misrepresent and thwart 
the policies and activities of the National adminis- 
tration, but I am firmly convinced that their partners 
in their arrangement have deliberately led them into 
a most unfortunate situation. 



8 

Remember we are having this contest with Dem- 
ocrats, and their banners and the mottoes inscribed 
thereon will be in evidence upon the field of victory 
if this is to be a Republican defeat. 

The fact, if it so turned out (and that is the way 
to look at it) that a Republican candidate for Gover- 
nor and several Congressmen had been defeated in 
Pennsylvania by a fusion of Democrats and Republi- 
cans, would penetrate to localities where the Lincoln 
party and its protestations of friendliness to the 
Republican National Administration would never 
reach. 

It thus becomes to the extent I have indicated a 
National issue all around, and, however the case 
may be in other States, the line of cleavage in Penn- 
sylvania is the President, his policies, and his success 
and intelligent and honest purpose in working them 
out. Pennsylvania is invited now to reverse its 
momentous verdict of approval of the President's 
administration two years ago when challenged in 
a National campaign for the same reasons now 
advanced. 

Although the fusion candidate is a Republican 
and is running on an independent ticket, which 
expresses a solemn protest against past conditions, the 
fact cannot be obscured (and should not be minim- 
ized) that he is also running on a Democratic ticket 



9 

with a platform which cynically and insolently con- 
demns not only the Republican party in general but 
the President as an individual leading his party. 
However thoroughly Mr. Emery's relations with the 
Democrats are understood in Pennsylvania, and how- 
ever completely he may personally ignore this part 
of their platform and express his personal adherence 
to Mr. Roosevelt, if he is elected, his election would 
be accomplished largely by Democratic votes, and 
that party is not so dull as not to take advantage 
of that fact, and claim credit for it and publish to 
the country, with an effect that would be most 
harmful in the coming Presidential campaign, that 
Pennsylvania had reversed herself and condemned 
the policies of Roosevelt as insincere and inef- 
fective. 

Let anyone who doubts the absolute accuracy of 
what I say ask himself this question. What would 
the Democratic party claim in the next National 
campaign if Pennsylvania would change a half 
million votes in this campaign where the Democracy 
challenge the efficiency for the public good and high 
motive of the President? 

No hamlet in the land is so remote as to 
escape their triumphant heralds, who would pro- 
claim the stupendous fact that the Keystone State 
had repudiated Roosevelt, and the cry that as Penn- 



10 

sylvania goes so goes the Union would be 
the slogan of our political foes. 

While I think, as I have just stated, the Lincoln- 
Democratic fusion makes substantially one party so far 
as National issues are concerned, yet I am willing to 
discuss the case on their own theory, namely, that 
the Lincoln party demand is solely to defeat the 
Republican State ticket because it is the regular 
Republican ticket, and that the demand of the 
Democracy to defeat the Republican State ticket 
because Roosevelt is a feeble and pretended im- 
itator of Bryan is wholly a Democratic proposi- 
tion. 

I will discuss these propositions in the reverse 
order of their statement. 

First, then, is President Roosevelt a feeble and 
pretended imitator of Mr. Bryan ? 

It is well to observe that the Democratic con- 
gratulation to the country is upon the fact : 

"that the only prominence which the pres- 
ent Republican National Administration has 
attained has been achieved by a feeble and 
pretended application of the principles enunci- 
ated by the Honorable William Jennings 
Bryan, the great Democratic commoner, who 
is now regarded as the certain successor of 
Theodore R.oosevelt to the Presidency." 



11 

What a silly and wicked declaration. Its folly 
and viciousness is amazing. Think of men setting 
themselves up as preachers of civic righteousness and 
deliberately and in cool blood proclaiming that it is a 
matter of public congratulation that the people's Gov- 
ernment has been feebly and insincerely conducted. 
If the allegation were true it would be reason for the 
most profound regret, not congratulation, to all good 
citizens. Not only do the Democracy congratulate the 
people that their prominent affairs have been feebly 
and insincerely administered, but it follows from the 
declaration that if the Administration has attained 
prominence for anything else than " a feeble 
and pretended" application of Bryan doctrines it is 
not a subject of congratulation. 

What about the Panama Canal, the Pacific 
Cable, the settlement of the great Anthracite coal 
strike, the pacification of Japan and Russia, and the 
many other notable achievements of the Adminis- 
tration ? 

Were not these prominent matters and is not 
the country to be congratulated upon their success- 
ful issue? 

Pennsylvanians who were so immediately con- 
cerned recall with gratitude the action of President 
Roosevelt in intervening in the interests of the 
public to secure the resumption of mining operations 



12 

in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania and 
the renewal of the supply of fuel to the public upon 
the threshold of the winter of 1902. His frank 
disclaimer of proceeding upon any theory of power 
or official duty in the matter and his appeal to 
operators and workmen to lay aside their respective 
contentions and thereby to avert a fuel famine, 
with its consequent horrors and distress, were 
humane and lofty acts, wholly his own, which com- 
mended themselves to all civilization and resulted 
in a peaceful solution of what appeared to be an 
insolvable situation. 

Were these great national and international 
problems to which I have alluded solved by a 
"feeble and pretended application of the principles 
enunciated by Bryan ? " 

If the true meaning of the Democratic decla- 
ration is that the Administration has attained no 
prominence except where its successful acts touch 
and affect matters about which Mr. Bryan has 
vaguely discoursed, we welcome an examination of 
that claim. 

Let us look for a moment at some of the work 
of the Administration in Congress and in the 
Executive Departments along the lines of con- 
structive legislation, the expansion of the Federal 
power, and the enforcement of the law against 



13 

monopolies and for the regulation of public 
carriers. 

A number of new forms of corporate combina- 
tion and aggression brought the Roosevelt admin- 
istration at its beginning face to face with the 
question whether it would accept the view that these 
new devices and practices, whose deadly effect 
upon competition was certain, should escape the 
regulative power of Congress because, as their 
promoters claimed, their effect was indirect upon 
interstate commerce, and, therefore, under the 
Court decisions not amenable to Government con- 
trol, or because, as they were created under the 
laws of a State, they were beyond Federal power. 
These were the two views advanced in their behalf. 

After mature deliberation it was announced that 
the Administration's position was that the power 
of Congress "to regulate commerce with foreign 
nations and among the States" was plenary, and 
extended to all interstate commerce and its instru- 
mentalities. That this power was not exhausted 
by the Sherman Act, nor by the Interstate Com- 
merce Act, and that in respect to the Sherman 
Act it meant more than was generally conceded, 
and as to the Interstate Commerce Act it could be 
wisely amended. In short, what the Administra- 
tion stood for was the supremacy of the National 



14 

power in all matters relating to interstate com- 
merce; that while it was not intended that the 
business of the country was to be conducted by 
the Government it was intended that it should be 
regulated in the interest of the public, and the first 
steps taken were to secure, if possible, an inter- 
pretation of existing law confirming this conception 
of the completeness of the power of the Federal 
Government in its application to the situation. 

These views as to the supremacy of the Federal 
power in respect to commercial intercourse between 
States and with foreign nations were announced 
to Congress in a message which declared for the 
vitality of the anti-trust act and for the view that 
the power of Congress under the commercial clause 
of the Constitution was not exhausted by the pro- 
visions of that act, and numerous suits were insti- 
tuted to secure further interpretation of the law, 
each one of which involved new features either in 
the make-up of combinations or in their effect upon 
commerce. 

Some related to the monoply produced by 
secret and preferential rates for railroad transporta- 
tion and the jurisdiction of a court of equity to 
destroy such monopoly at the suit of the United 
States ; others related to railroad traffic pooling and 
the routing of traffic thereunder ; others to a com- 



15 

bination of independent corporations to fix and 
maintain extortionate prices and whether its opera- 
tions wholly within a State were so connected with 
those between the States as to bring the whole 
under the regulative power of Congress ; and 
another was directed against a corporation organized 
to merge into itself the control of parallel and 
competing lines of railroad and eliminate competi- 
tion in transportation. 

It was recommended to Congress that in respect 
of railroad rebates the omission in the act to reg- 
ulate commerce to punish the beneficiary should be 
supplied by imposing a penalty upon the incorpo- 
rated carrier and the beneficiary alike, and the 
rights of the courts to restrain such practices at 
the suit of the United States, a right not settled 
but vigorously challenged, should be made 
certain. 

It was recommended that it should be made 
unlawful to transport traffic by carriers subject to 
the "act to regulate commerce" at any rate less 
than such carrier's published rate, and all who par- 
ticipate in the violation of such law should be 
punished. 

It was recommended that a comprehensive plan 
should be framed to enable the Government to get 
at all the facts bearing upon the organization and 



16 

practices of concerns engaged in interstate and 
foreign commerce essential to a full understanding 
thereof. 

Another step in legislation which was earnestly- 
recommended was an act to speed the final decision 
of cases under the anti-trust law. 

No one thought that with these gaps closed the 
scheme of governmental regulation would be com- 
plete; but it was clear that it was inadequate 
without some such legislation, the enactment 
of which would make a long first stride in 
advance. 

Every one of these suggestions was promptly- 
acted upon and became a law before the expiration 
of that session of Congress, and the legislation of 
the last session regulating further the business of 
common carriers, providing for food inspection and 
enlarging the powers of the Interstate Commerce 
Commission has greatly advanced the plan of Fed- 
eral regulative control. 

The decisions in the Courts in the suits insti- 
tuted supplemented and enforced the legislation. 
When the Court decided in the Northern Securities 
case, that "no State can endow any of its corpo- 
rations, or any combination of its citizens, with 
authority to restrain interstate or international com- 
merce, or to destroy the National will as mani- 



17 

fested in legal enactments of Congress," it affirmed 
the proposition for which the Government con- 
tended and rejected a view of the relations of the 
National Government and the States, which, if it 
prevailed, would ultimately lead back to the com- 
mercial chaos which existed in colonial days. 

This meager outline of what has been accom- 
plished through legislation and judicial decision in 
the past five years, gives but a faint notion of the 
great advance made in the assertion and exercise 
of National control over interstate commerce, but it 
should be sufficient to establish that the applica- 
tion by the present Administration of powers enu- 
merated in the Constitution to the complexities 
of high finance and the intricacies of modern com- 
merce have not been "feeble and pretended" as 
declared by the Democracy of Pennsylvania, and 
likewise sufficient to demonstrate the shallow fal- 
sity of the assertion by the Democratic Congressional 
Campaign Committee that the Democratic party "is 
the only party honestly fighting the unlawful com- 
binations and corporations." 

The second proposition I will now consider. 

Should the Republican State ticket be defeated 
because it is the regular Republican ticket; that is, 
should Republicans vote against the ticket, for 
unless they do it will win. 



18 

This is the issue, and the only one, according 
to their claim, with the Lincoln party. I agree it 
is the important one, and trust you will consider it 
wholly apart from anything I have said relative to 
other matters. 

Now why should a Republican vote against his 
party's candidate? I imagine he might do so with 
good conscience if fraud were practiced in the elec- 
tion of delegates to the nominating convention; if 
fraud were resorted to in the convention itself; if 
he could not conscientiously accept the principles of 
the platform; if he believed the party to be insin- 
cere and not intending to carry out prin- 
ciples and policies which it promulgated ; or 
if corrupt or incompetent men were put in 
nomination. 

Having regard to these reasons, I do not under- 
stand that it is claimed that there are any fraud- 
ulent practices involved. I understand the platform 
suits every one including the Democracy, who claim 
in their own platform that they have tried for 
years to get into power upon the same proposi- 
tions. Evidently the people doubted their sincerity. 
I understand the candidates to be honest and 
capable. It must come then to this. Is the party 
sincere in its declarations and does it intend to 
carry out the principles which it promulgates, and 



19 

is there, or can there be under existing conditions, 
any power within the party desiring to or able to 
defeat the honest intentions of the great dominating 
mass of our citizenship, which is Republican? 

This is a question addressed to Republicans. 
The result of this election will be the answer. 

For practically fifty years the State has been 
Republican. 

What are the reasons for the Republican dis- 
content manifested in the Autumn of 1905 and 
now finding expression in the existing political sit- 
uation? The answer to this is plain and easily 
understood. 

Every one knows that for some years there 
have been manifestations of an awakening of the 
political and commercial conscience of the Ameri- 
can people. 

In its relation to business it has appeared in 
an insistent demand for a higher ethical standard 
in business methods and a more just appreciation 
of the rights of the people in their relations to cor- 
porations whose franchises are the gift of the peo- 
ple and whose vast accumulations are in many cases 
the property of the people. 

The substance of the commercial demand is 
equality in charge and service from the corporations 
who serve the people for hire, and that trustees 



20 

and officers "keep their hands from picking and 
stealing" in corporations whose business it is to 
handle the public's money. 

In politics the demand is a release from the 
arbitrary and corrupt power of a political autocracy. 

The remedy for these evils to be effective must 
be radical; no permanent cure could be effected 
by a mere change in the personnel of trustees or 
boss so long as the system remained the same. 
To substitute a benevolent political despot for a 
selfish and arbitrary one does not mean political 
freedom. Thoughtful men realize that the ax must 
be laid at the root. 

There were earnest Republicans in Pennsylvania 
in all walks of life who realized that a propitious 
time had come when a demand for legislation 
which would adequately protect the political rights 
of the people should be insisted upon. 

How did the Republican party in Pennsylvania 
respond to the awakened political conscience of the 
people? 

The answer is to be found in the work of its 
Governor and Legislature. 

I start out with no personal prejudice against 
the Republican Governor and Republican Legis- 
lature of Pennsylvania. To the one I owe an 
unsolicited, unexpected and personally conceived 



21 

appointment to my present public office ; to the other 
I owe the most nearly unanimous election to that 
office in the history of the Commonwealth. 

Neither do I approach an examination of their 
work embarrassed by any of the obligations felt by 
the recipient of a solicited favor. In other words 
I feel that I am in position to justly appraise the 
work and the workers. 

As you know, immediately following the defeat 
of the Republican candidate for State Treasurer 
last Autumn, Governor Pennypacker called an 
extra session of the Legislature for the purpose of 
considering the subjects of legislation upon which 
the public mind had been awakened, and in 
respect to which a real demand for action 
existed. 

The Governor's call was not the result of the 
party's defeat, of this I am personally cognizant, as 
I had been for some months in his confidence upon 
the subject and at all times in full sympathy with 
him, and the determination to convene the Legis- 
lature immediately after the election, and without 
regard to its result, had been definitely reached many 
weeks prior to the election. 

The subjects of most general interest and 
importance submitted to the law-makers for action 
were : the enactment of reform measures for the 



22 

protection of the elective franchise ; the abolishing 
of fees in State offices ; the safeguarding of State 
funds ; the reapportionment of the State into Sena- 
torial and Legislative districts, as required by the 
Constitution ; and the passing of a primary election 
law to guarantee a free expression in the selection 
of candidates for office. 

The Legislature, composed of two hundred and 
twenty-five Republicans and twenty-nine Democrats, 
passed the legislation suggested by the Governor, 
referred to above, and in addition thereto a most 
stringent act relative to nomination and election 
expenses and requiring accounts thereof to be ren- 
dered to public officials. 

This legislation was supposed by those who 
were earnest in desiring its enactment to be ade- 
quate to secure and protect the political rights of 
the people. 

As to its scope and adequacy we have the high 
authority of the President of the United States that 
the work of that session "marks an epoch" in the 
progress of reform in popular government. 

He said at Harrisburg on the occasion of the 
dedication of the new capitol : 

"It is surely not too much to say that 
this body of substantive legislation marks 



23 

an epoch in the history of the practical bet- 
terment of political conditions not merely 
for your State, but for all our States." 

These are strong words, full of meaning, and 
descriptive of extraordinary accomplishment. They 
were spoken deliberately after a close analysis of 
the work of the session and fell from the lips of 
one pre-eminently qualified to estimate its value 
and full significance. 

It does not detract in the least from the credit 
of our Legislature to admit that its action was 
responsive to the demand of the people. And this, 
by the way, is only another way of stating that it was 
demanded by the Republicans of Pennsylvania, for the 
people are Republicans. That is what the Legislature 
is for. Representative government means the right of 
the people to have their will expressed as law. It is 
because the Republican party has met the demands of 
the people and has given expression to their will 
that it has continued in power in State and Nation 
almost uninterruptedly for more than half a cen- 
tury. 

It is because this great work to which our good 
Governor invited the Legislature to attend was 
attended to so thoroughly and well that the Repub- 
lican party can now in good conscience ask for 
continuance in power. 



24 

It is because of all this that when Theodore 
Roosevelt contemplated the work of the last session 
he was constrained to say that it "marked an 
epoch," to which he added that he did "not recall 
any other State Legislature which in a similar 
length of time has to its credit such a body of 
admirable legislation." 

Even if I had not always been a Republican I 
would feel inclined to trust, at this time, the party 
that put in force this system of law so thoroughly 
protecting my political rights ; but having always 
been a Republican, I cannot conjure up a single 
doubt as to my duty. 

For practically all of fifty years all that has 
been done politically to make this Commonwealth 
great and good and prosperous must be credited 
to the wisdom of Republican policies and the faith- 
fulness of their execution, and all that has been 
done for evil politically must be charged to the 
party's mistakes or the betrayal of its honor by 
individuals. Yet upon balancing the account a large 
credit is found in the party's favor, and, to again 
quote the President's words, "I do not recall any 
other State Legislature which in a similar time has 
to its credit such a body of admirable legislation." 

Fellow Republicans, I speak to you frankly and 
earnestly. This is not the time to quit. To you, 



25 

conscientious and earnest men who are still shak- 
ing your heads over party errors, I say now is the 
time to stick to your faith and allegiance. Now is 
the time to forget the differences engendered in 
other contests and for the unified party to give its 
attention to the constructive work required to 
develop the tremendous possibilities of the Common- 
wealth. Now is the time for Republicans to 
exhibit some of that worldly wisdom and practical 
sense in the preservation of the party, which they 
have hitherto shown in guiding and directing the 
affairs of a great Nation and Commonwealth. 

Why under existing circumstances should any 
Republican now repudiate his party ? Why should he 
be now alarmed at the spectre of bossism and be 
frightened or driven away from his party when the 
party has legislated against the possibility of its 
recurrence ? 

Either the reform legislation so highly com- 
mended by the President as necessary to secure a 
free expression of the popular will, will accomplish 
that purpose, or it is a delusion and a snare. 

I am not willing to admit its uselessness in the 
light of the experience of other States and against 
the great opinion we have received of its merits. 
For one I am willing to trust the verdict of the 
people of Pennsylvania honestly ascertained, as it 



26 

must be, under a law that secures to every elector 
the right to cast his vote secretly for candidates for 
nomination and election. For one I believe that 
our strict requirements for personal registration will 
secure an honest vote, and I am convinced that 
under a system which gives to every elector assur- 
ance that his vote will be counted as cast and will 
not be balanced by a fraudulent one, the people will 
participate more generally in primary elections and 
will directly control the affairs of the Common- 
wealth. 

I think it is safe to say the day of indi- 
vidual domination has passed away, except in the 
debauched Democracy of New York, and men's 
political influence in the future, except when tem- 
porarily constructed upon deception, will be in the 
long run commensurate with their merits. 

It was a mistake, in my judgment, for the 
Lincoln Republicans to have held aloof from the 
counsels of the party when a State ticket was to 
be chosen. The demands for reform legislation, 
with which most of us were in entire sympathy, 
had been fully met. The Governor and the Legis- 
lature had done a good work which the masses of 
the party demanded and approved. 

It is a mistake after a Republican ticket of 
unexceptionable personality was nominated to com- 



27 

bine with those with whom we have nothing in 
common to defeat that ticket. 

It was a mistake to oppose the re-election of 
the Republican candidates for Congress in a num- 
ber of districts. 

It is always a mistake for an army to give way 
to dissensions in the face of the enemy. No one 
profits by these mistakes but the enemy, to whom 
they are always a real aid and comfort. 

It is a mistake to wreck a great party present 
ing a sound platform and clean candidates to 
gratify any resentments against individuals. 

Popular governments always have been and 
always will be governed by great political parties. 
I believe that the disorganization and disintegra- 
tion of either one of the two great political parties 
of this country would be a bad thing, not only for 
the party so disorganized, but for the country in 
general. Perhaps the most frequent cause for dis- 
organization arises from the improper dictation of 
party candidates by party leaders. The primary 
election law deprives individuals of this power. 
Mistakes will, of course, be made under the new 
conditions, in the choice of candidates — mistakes 
not apparent at the time of their selection but 
which will develop by their official action after they 
have been elected to office. Such mistakes, how- 



28 

ever, will not be serious for the reason that each 
member of the party will realize that he has had 
a voice in the selection of the candidates, and that 
such mistake has been his mistake and not a mis- 
take which he has made possible by his culpable 
neglect of a public duty. 

I am now talking to Republicans and am hop- 
ing to convince Republicans who may be in doubt 
as to their political duty. 

An honest compliance with a demand for 
reform within a party should satisfy its reform 
element, at least to the extent of a trial under the 
new conditions. Of course it would never convert 
its adversaries, it would only disconcert them. 

It has been demonstrated that the great rank 
and file of Pennsylvania Republicans desire all that 
is best in Government. They stand lor clean 
principles and practices and have provided the 
means by which they are to be certainly secured. 

We have cleaned house. Why should we now 
move out? 

This contest comes, so to speak, after the hunt 
is over. It is clear that the basis of reform has 
already been achieved by the party itself in the 
legislation of the extra session. Never hereafter can 
any man or group of men run Pennsylvania con- 
ventions and elections as they have done here- 



29 

tofore ; and it seems a great pity and waste to let 
the old issues, which undoubtedly presented just 
grievances, obscure the real issue now, which is : 
Shall the Republican party, now chastened but 
strengthened, offering to the State blameless candi- 
dates, be destroyed, and the administration of the 
State turned over to those who are certainly 
combined, one party wittingly, the other, may be, 
unwittingly, in an effort to destroy it. 

The whole case on this point may be put in 
one sentence: Will the Republicans of Pennsyl- 
vania, after having enacted a "body of substantive 
legislation which marks an epoch in the history of 
the practical betterment of political conditions," de- 
cree by their votes that they are not to be trusted 
with power under the new and better conditions ? 

As for our candidates, I can say no more in 
respect to their high character and clean life than 
that my personal knowledge confirms the general 
verdict in their favor. 

As a candidate, Mr. Stuart has shown strong 
self-assertion, evinced a keen appreciation of the 
spirit of the times, and "given his candidacy a new 
significance and relation." 

"If elected Governor," Mr. Stuart said, "I shall 
conduct my administration according to the oath of 
office and for the benefit and in the interest of the 



30 

only master I recognize, the people of Pennsy 1 
vania. 

"I state this emphatically now so that he who 
has any other idea should oppose my election and 
not complain afterward that he did not understand 
my position and feel that he had supported me 
under a misapprehension." 

I am deeply impressed by this solemn pledge 
and warning from a man who has behind him a 
record of public service faithfully and courageously 
performed. 

I have thought out carefully the issues of this 
campaign, and reached firm convictions of my per- 
sonal duty as a citizen regarding them, and I am 
glad to have had this opportunity of expressing 
them. 

Not having, either before or during my public 
career, taken part in the work of party organiza- 
tion I can and do view with a perfectly open mind 
the mistakes and offenses of party management. 
These cannot be denied nor minimized, neither 
should they be exaggerated nor the effect of them 
upon the party's mission be misunderstood. 

The Republican party is the dominant political 
force in the State and Nation. It has given an 
earnest of its sincerity safe from any charge of 
insidious pretense or late and dishonest repentance. 



31 

There is no sufficient reason to turn over to 
our opponents, with whose views upon National and 
State policies we do not agree, the great force of 
public administration in Pennsylvania. We should 
not wreck the Republican party and destroy the 
cohesive force of its organization when wrong 
principles of cohesion are being eliminated and safe 
ones substituted. 

It is childish for seven millions of people armed 
with a protected ballot to flee panic stricken before 
the harmless shadows of the "bogey" of bossism, 
which are flashing over the hills and valleys of our 
State. 

The sensible, just, practical and patriotic course 
for Republicans in this crisis is to claim and 
insist upon the credit of leading the country in the 
march of reform, elect our candidates and admin- 
ister the Government with an eye single to the 
best interests of the people. 

I publicly stated my political creed some thirty 
days prior to the election last Autumn, and at a 
time when I knew an extra session of the Legis- 
lature would be convened and the work it would 
be asked to do. 

I beg leave now to repeat it: 

"I believe in electing Republicans to the 
State offices, and that the Republican party 



32 

should then see that they administer the 
offices faithfully and well. 1 

"I believe the best way to maintain 
National Republican supremacy is to main- 
tain the supremacy of the party within the 
State, and the best way to maintain the 
supremacy of the party within the State and 
to make the State's influence proportionate 
to its greatness is, in my judgment, to have 
the party meet the just and reasonable 
demands of the people for wise legislation 
and honest administration. I am satisfied 
that this is the view of the great majority 
of Pennsylvanians, and a great majority of 
Pennsylvanians are Republicans." 

I may now add that the party has met the just 
and reasonable demands of the people for wise 
legislation and that I am convinced that its worthy 
candidates are entitled to the cordial and loyal 
support of all true Republicans. 

There never was a time in the history of this 
State when the great masses of the Republican 
party were so earnest and -so anxious to bring 
about permanent reforms and to throw off the 
obnoxious yoke which has been a feature in Amer- 
ican politics in all states and in all parties ever since 
the Civil War. 



33 

The great rank and file of the party are rejoicing 
over the new conditions that have been brought 
about, and they expected and had a right to expect, 
until this fusion, that the men who are now seek- 
ing to destroy the party would have been the men 
to have assisted in developing and perpetuating 
the reforms already accomplished. 

The Democratic party can well look on this 
performance with glee because they see in fusion 
success the utter demoralization of the Republican 
party in Pennsylvania and the disheartening of 
earnest men who are intensely anxious for its 
future. 

What encouragement is there for any man to 
devote his time, his talents and his energy for the 
promotion of Republican success in the future when 
he considers that in this campaign Republicans who 
believe in going forward as a party are pointed at 
with scorn, by some who should be co-operating 
with them, as creatures of the "boss" and advocates 
of the machine. 

If a man is ashamed of being a Republican in 
Pennsylvania to-day there never was a time in its 
history when he could have made that claim with 
honor. 

I cannot understand the attitude of people who 
are standing aloof or opposing the election of Mr. 



34 

Stuart, while freely conceding that his pledges 
a nd promises are all that is desirable and that he 
honestly intends, if elected, to administer the gov- 
ernment of the State solely in the interest of the 
people. 

I cannot understand why a man should put up 
the cry of "bossism" against an honest candidate 
who solemnly says he never recognized a boss and 
in the most specific manner declares he never will. 

I cannot understand those who publicly pro- 
claim that the political rights of the people have 
been fully secured by legislation and then prophesy 
disaster to the State through the exercise of those 
rights by the people. 

And more mysterious than all to me is the 
attitude of those Republicans who claim to have 
been instrumental in bringing about these reforms 
by appealing to the Republicans of the State and 
through them to the Legislature of the State, who 
now, after their voices have been heard and their 
advice followed, mutiny against the ship whose 
course they claim to have directed and consort 
with those whose most charitable wish is that she 
may go to everlasting destruction upon the rocks. 



LIBRARY OF 




